


Out of Sight, Out of Voltron

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The Red Paladin's Double [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 00:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9212285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Keith decides to leave, everything goes wrong





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right, Keith over Galra insecurities? Whoops again.

 "Where's Keith?" Shiana looked around. Lance had asked a good question. Keith was nowhere to be seen. She could see plenty of Arusians, but not the red paladin. She shrugged.

     "Probably back at the castle. You know how much he hates socializing."

     "But these are the Arusians! They love him, for unfathomable reasons!"

     "Fine. I'll go find him ."

     "You do that."

  Was it just Shiana's imagination, or did Lance sound a bit pained? She sighed.

     "Lance, there is absolutely nothing between me and Keith that will stop you from flirting with me, aside from him yelling at you to 'stop and leave her alone so we can have some peace and quiet for goodness' sake.'"

   He eyed her suspiciously.

       "Are you pulling things out of my brain? 'Cause that's cheating."

       Shiana sighed again.

       "No, Lance, I did not. It's called being observant." She ran to the castle, searching the halls for her fellow pladin. The events of the last battle flashed through her mind. She had seen Haggar and had chased her, followed closely by Keith. They had run right into a trap. Literally. Her leg had been caught in a steel bear trap, and Keith was left to fight Haggar alone. He had done well at first, but then Haggar told him that if he killed her, he would never find his father. Keith had faltered for just a moment and she hit him with a blast of energy. He had collapsed, and Shiana had been unable to hear a heartbeat or the sound of his breathing. She had desperately tried to shoot electricity, and Haggar had easily dodged. But Haggar hadn't been her target. The electricity had thankfully been enough to restart Keith's heart, and he had rescued her from the trap, Haggar having run the second he had come back to life. He had made her promise not to tell anyone what had happened, which was why she had volunteered to find him, in case he was in shock from what had happened.

 

      _Oh, this is ridiculous,_ she thought, as she continued to search, _Red, where is he?_ Red took her sweet time before answering.

      _In an extra room._ An image came to Shiana's mind, and she nodded.

     "Thanks." She ran down the hall way to the room Red had shown her. She paused outside the door and listened. She could hear sniffling.

      _Oh, Keith._ Why wouldn't he let anyone in? They could help him, but he stubbornly refused to tell them anything, keeping his emotions locked up behind a prickly wall. Shiana hesitantly entered the room. Keith was curled in a ball against the wall, head hidden by his arms and knees.

     "Keith?" The paladin looked up, and Shiana saw that he had his disguise on, looking like an ordinary human.

      _Oh, boy._ Shiana sat next to him.

      "Hey." Shiana spoke softly. "You okay?" He snuffled.

      "Yeah" he replied.

      "You wanna talk about it?"

      "No."

      "You sure?"

      "No." Shiana put an arm around his shoulders, which were shaking.

      "It's okay. I promise I won't tell anyone."

      "I can't do anything right!" Keith's sudden outburst made Shiana jump.

      "I can't... I... Being Galra ruins everything,"  he continued,"I would've been able to beat Haggar if I was human! She would have said 'I can help you find your father' and I could have said 'who cares? He's a deadbeat who left my mom!' But... I don't know anymore. He could have been arrested, or be secretly helping us as a spy or something, so it actually matters now!" Shiana furrowed her eyebrows.

       "Keith, don't let me ever hear you blaming yourself for anything because of your heritage again! Nothing you did was wrong! If she had said that about my mother I would have done the exact same thing! No one on this team would ever replace you or anyone else if they had the choice!" She stood an offered him her hand. He accepted it and Shiana pulled him to his feet. She gave him a hug, pressing the button on his belt so he would become Galra again. He hugged her back, tears streaming from his eyes.

        "Shh. It's okay. It's oookay." Lance entered the room and grinned mmischievously. Shiana shot daggers at him, conveying with her eyes that if he made one comment... He ignored her.

         "OOOOO! Keith! You got yourself a _girlfriend!_ You sly dog, did you really think you could hide this from me?" Shiana started to yell at him in her native language, all English abandoned.

         "Furcifur! Stultus! Filius canis!" She threw the nearest item she could find at him, which happened to be a hammer. He ducked it, grinning, and retreated.

          "Ex! Ex!" She rolled her eyes. "I changed my mind. I might go back and get rid of him." Keith laughed in spite of himself. Shiana looked at him with all the affection of an older sister.

          "You are one of us now, meas amare, and nothing can change that."

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

"You're WHAT?!"

"I'm leaving Voltron." Keith had mentally prepared himself for this moment, but nothing could prepare him for the fury of Shiana.

"You... You're going to leave? Where? How? What will you do? What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, in the extra spaceship, not quite sure yet, and you'll have to figure that out yourself." Keith walked away to find the others,

assuming Shiana would follow. He was not disappointed.

"But... Didn't you listen to a single word I said last night?"

"I did. And I concluded that it would be in the best interests of the team

if I left for awhile to think a bit. Loosen up as Lance would say." He wandered into the meeting room where the other paladins were talking.

"I have an announcement to make," he proclaimed. All of the paladins

looked up, Lance with an oddly delighted face.

"I knew it! You and Shiana do have a secret relationship!"

"What? No! I... I'm leaving Voltron." Pidge was the first to react.

"Leaving? As in goodbye Voltron? Why?"

"I... I need to not be here for a bit. Everything is going to pieces, and I just need some time away from... This." He waves a hand at the castle.

"That's dumb."

"What? No it's not! It's a perfectly good reason!"

"Seriously. I wanted to leave to find my family. You want to leave because why? Because you want a vacation. Dumbest reason ever. You can't leave!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" A small smile played on Shiro's lips as he

remembered a scene very similar to this, the positions of Keith and Pidge reversed.

"Hey, Pidge, Keith?" The squabbling paladins looked at him, still glaring

each other. "Remember when you wanted to leave, Pidge? I let you didn't I? And know, although I don't want him to, Keith, you can leave, if you want." Keith nodded savagely.

"I do want." Hunk finally decided to speak up.

"But Keith you're part of the team! You're our red paladin!" Keith shook

his head.

"Not anymore, Hunk. Shiana is the red paladin now." They all heard a

roar from the hangar, but only Keith and Shiana heard the cry of the red lion.

_NO! Not my pilot! Stay!_

_I'm sorry Red._

_NO! You have to fly me! Shiana is for emergency! Leader!_

Shiro suddenly heard a voice in his head that he recognized as the black

lion's

_You are letting the red paladin leave._

_Yes. He needs to be alone for a bit._

_Do you think this on your own, or because he told you so?_

_I trust his judgement._

_Red is upset. She says her paladin needs to stay._

_She will miss him, but she will get used to Shiana._

_No. She knows him better than anyone else. He needs to stay with us._

_He is hurting, but he will not admit it. He needs his friends. He needs Red. Leaving will only isolate his pain, not make it go away. He is afraid to confront his pain because he believes it will only make it hurt worse. And it will. But he can heal with the help of his friends._

_How do you know all this?_

_Red. She is quite hysterical. Do not leave the red paladin alone._

_I really think this will help him._

_So be it. But you will not think so for long._

_Why? Black? Don't leave! Too late._ The black lion's voice was gone.

Meanwhile Lance and Keith were arguing over whether or not Keith could leave, while Shiana looked as although she would burst into tears at any moment. Keith stomped off to his room. Shiro sighed. Was he making the right choice?

Keith handed Shiana his armor and Bayard. Her eyes widened.

"What is this for?" Keith struggled to keep his emotions in check.

"I... You're going to need these to be the red paladin." She took one look at the items he'd handed to her and ran off, crying. Keith sighed. He had known she would start at some time. Shiana lived in a state of constant cheerfulness, but she couldn't handle sad things. By keeping herself cheerful, she didn't have to face her sorrows. However, if something sad happened, it burst her cheerful exterior. That was one way they were alike, hiding their pain from everyone, although he just tried to separate himself entirely.

Shiana snuck onto Keith's ship and opened a cabinet and shoving certain items inside before locking it and sneaking back out to get something else from her room.

"Wait!" Keith turned back with a sigh to see Shiana running towards him, waving something around. She caught up to him and handed him a small box with a button on the side.

"It's a one-way com," she explained,"just press the button and it'll contact me. In case you need help, or supplies, or... or just a friend to talk to." She broke off, biting her lip, and hugged him.

"Hey, it's okay. I'll be back sometime." She nodded and stepped back, although it was clear she didn't believe him. He climbed into the pod and blasted away, Shiana waving until he was out of sight.

 


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, team! Form Voltron!" Shiana pulled the red lion into formation as she had seen Keith do a thousand times. Nothing happened. Over the com she could hear all four of the other paladins say, in perfect unison,  
"Uh-oh."  
"What?!"  
 _Whoops._  
 _Red? What's the matter?_  
 _Yeah, um, we forgot to teach you how to form Voltron. We didn't need_  
 _him the last couple of weeks, so we kinda forgot that you didn't know how to form him._  
 _Well, tell me how then!_  
 _Right. Okay. Link your mind with the other paladins'._  
 _How?_  
 _Well, normally they spend lots of time doing bonding excercises, but we_  
 _forgot that you weren't always here. Okay. Time for emergency tactics. I'm going to form the arm for you._  
The lions glowed, and at last the paladins formed Voltron. But there  
was still a problem. Shiana couldn't function as an arm. And Keith's Bayard did not work for her. They disbanded and landed on a nearby planet to regroup. But when they ran out, laser fire greeted them. The Galra were waiting for them. Shiro heard a roar, and he turned around to see a tractor beam sucking the black lion into a Galra ship.  
"No!" A gunshot focused his mind. There was nothing he could do for the black lion now. He needed to help his team. There were too many Galra to fight so, much as he hated it, they would have to run. Luckily there was a forest to run and hide in.  
"Into the trees! Now!" The paladins ran for cover, the Galra chasing after them. Shiro looked back. They would never escape. Not unless... Shiro veered for a nearby tree and sliced into it with his metal arm. Shiana stopped to look at him.  
"Shiro? What are you doing?"  
"I'll cover you! Go! Shiana, I need you to use your outdoors skills to get them out of these woods and somewhere safe. Get out of here!" Shiana nodded and scurried off, the other paladins following her as the tree fell across the path. Gunshots ensued, along with Shiro's shout of defiance.  
"Come on! We need to keep moving!" The sounds of the battle had stopped ten minutes ago, and Shiana was afraid that Shiro hadn't bought them enough time. But the paladins were not built the way she was. They didn't have her alien endurance or outdoors skills.  
"Shiana, can't we rest for just a minute?" Lance was doubled over, panting. He and the other paladins looked worn out from the running, and Shiana felt a pang of guilt at pushing them so hard. But they couldn't stop now. She was about to take another step, before her instincts stopped her and she looked down. Shiana jumped back with a curse.  
"What's the matter?"  
"Light sand," Shiana replied grimly, "notice how it's so dark? Light sand sucks up light so you can't see well and then sucks you down. Like quicksand, but deadlier." She picked up a handful of pebbles and scattered them around, noting how fast they sank and how much of the pebble stuck out after it stopped sinking. Lance watched, fascinated. Normally she was a light, cheerful girl who just had fun, but Shiana could also be a cold calculator, as she had been when they first met her, only looking to survive and figure out how best do so. She nodded to herself.  
"Okay, good news and bad news. Good news: we can get across. Bad  
news: you're gonna have to sprint. Very fast. Follow my footsteps exactly." She sprinted across the sand, fast as a gazelle, her feet barely touching the ground. But touch the ground they did, leaving a good trail for them to follow.  
"Hunk next. While the sand is still slightly firm." Hunk gulped whether  
from the slightly or the fact that he would have to sprint Lance didn't know. However, he did make it and Lance was called next, because Pidge was the lightest and would probably not be heavy enough to sink after Lance. All was going well until on her way over Pidge lost her footing. And toppled over into the sand.  
"PIDGE!" Shiana shouted as the small girl disappeared into the sand.  
Without a second thought, she turned on her mask and dove into the sand. She could see her, drowning in the sand, just out of reach. Then she was... moving? Oh. Lance or Hunk, but probably Hunk, had used a grappling hook, or something to hook onto Pidge and pull her out. Why hadn't Shiana thought of that? Using her rocket boots she shot out of the sand. The scene that awaited her was less welcome than the fresh oxygen that flooded her lungs. Lance and Hunk were firing desperately at Galra sentries that held, Shiana realized with a chill, a grappling gun. That was sunk in the sand. Attached to something green and white. Shiana screamed Pidge's name and flew towards the soldiers, but a vine lasso, thrown by Lance, pulled her back.  
"No, Shiana! You can't help her!" Hunk held a struggling Shiana back.  
"Let me go! Shiro is already gone, we can't lose Pidge too!"  
"There's nothing we can do! We have to leave before they catch us  
too!" Shiana stopped struggling and sighed in defeat. Hunk released her and she led them away, the Galra deciding how to cross the light sand.  
"The trees!" Lance started as Shiana spoke up, the first words she'd said  
since Pidge was captured over an hour ago  
"We can use the trees to escape! The sentries can't follow us up there!"  
Hunk looked at the trees. They all had thick branches capable of holding his weight. Why not? It was true, the robots probably couldn't climb trees. Shiana scaled a tree, moving up the branches like a monkey, Lance right behind her. Hunk followed less enthusiastically, hauling himself up the branches. Shiana grabbed his gun and blasted away the branches they'd climbed.  
"They probably can't climb trees, but I'm not going to make it easy for  
them." She cocked her head, listening. Her eyes brightened.  
"there's only ten of them! We can take them down!" She hopped to a  
different tree, motioning for Lance to follow, which he did, then jumping to one more tree and waiting for the Galra to catch up. Shiana was right: there was only ten soldiers. They opened fire. The ten sentries fell beneath the onslaught and Shiana whooped with elation. A gunshot sounded. Hunk watched, the world slowing down as the laser shot into the tree Lance was in. A cry of pain, and Lance fell, clutching his shoulder. Shiana screamed, and Hunk barely managed to fly to stop Shiana from going after him. It had been a trap, just to get them to stay in one place long enough for the main body of Galra soldiers to catch up. He pulled Shiana away, tears pouring out of both paladins' eyes as they heard Lance's gun shooting, trying to buy them both time to get away.  
Out of the forest. Finally. Now they just had sheer cliffs and canyons to  
cross. Shiana decided that she hated this stupid planet. The Galra weren't far behind them. She looked at the cliffs. Too far to jump all the way, but maybe...  
"Hunk! I need a piggyback jump!" Hunk looked at the sheer cliffs.  
"It's too far! We won't make it!"  
"Just trust me! Please?!" Hunk hesitated before wrapping his arms  
around her as if he were going to piggyback ride on her and launched himself off the cliff, fully piggybacking as they slammed into the side of the cliff side. Shiana shoved the knives out of her gloves and into the rock. Sparks flew as they skidded down the cliff, Hunk's weight dragging them down much faster than Shiana would have liked. Her arms were pulled, and she screamed as one of her arms was yanked out of its socket. When they were close enough to the floor, she pulled the knives out of the wall and Hunk flew them safely to the bottom of the canyon. She collapsed, exhausted. Hunk picked her up gently and carried her to a cave where he set her down to examine her shoulder.  
"I'm going to shove your shoulder back in place on three. One... Two!"  
Hunk shoved her shoulder back in place. Shiana punched him in the arm on instinct.  
"Ouch."  
"Sorry. But you said on three!" Hunk blinked at her.  
"Yeah... That's what doctors do on earth so you don't tense up..."  
"Earth seems backwards. That wasn't nice."  
"your shoulder is in place, isn't it?" Shiana gave him a delighted look.  
"That's right! Thank you." She hugged him. "Sorry about punching you."  
She sighed and put her head in her hands.  
"This is all my fault. If I had been a better guide, forget it if I'd been a  
better paladin... This never would have happened if I'd been able to form Voltron. I wish Keith were here." Hunk jumped to his feet  
"That's it! Com Keith with your little thing! He has a ship, we can fly to  
the Galra ship, get the lions and rescue everybody!" Shiana frowned.  
"One problem. It's one way. Unless he feels like talking to me, we can't  
contact him." Hunk slumped.  
"Remind me why you built that thing one way again?"  
"Well, originally it was for Pidge when it was time to look for her dad  
and brother. One way so that she could talk to us, but you and Lance couldn't bug her all day." Shiana snapped her fingers. "Wait, maybe I can turn the signal backwards so that it'll contact his. Be difficult without the other one but maybe..." She fiddled with the device, moving wires and a small crystal around until it started to beep. She held it up and pressed the button with a triumphant smile.  
Beep. Beep. Beep.  
Keith jumped, banging his head on the inside of the ship. What was  
wrong now? He wished Hunk or Pidge was here to help him- no. He couldn't start thinking about- too late. A wave of what might have been homesickness swept over him. He missed Shiana's bright smile and Shiro's steady presence. He missed Pidge's sarcasm and Hunk's willingness to protect his friends. Shoot, he even missed Lance's dumb jokes. He rubbed his head, which was starting to swell where he'd bumped it, and went inside the ship. The beeping was coming from the little com Shiana had given him. The supposedly one way com. Shiana's face popped out of it, before glitching and then reappearing.  
"Whoa. OK. Keith, hi." Her face fizzed again before becoming clear.  
"Sorry. Don't talk, I can't hear you." Her voice fizzed out. "Rewired so that- OK, so we kind of need some help. Turns out I can't form Voltron, so I'm pretty much useless- know you want to be alone, but- if you don't believe me, just go to that cabinet that's always locked and tell it what you most want right now. Imputing coordinates." Her face disappeared, replaced by coordinates. Keith stepped away, head whirling. He could go back? He wandered to the cabinet that was always locked.  
"I... I want to go back. I want to be a paladin of Voltron again." There  
was a soft clicking noise and the cabinet opened. Keith smiled as he saw the familiar glint of red and white armor.  
Shiana couldn't use her gloves. They had been damaged by her slide  
down the cliff. She and Hunk had split up to divide the Galra even further. Most of them had chased after her, but she still worried that he had not managed to get away. She smacked the glove, which sparked weakly.  
"Come on..." She shook them, but nothing happened. A round of laser  
fire sent her scurrying for cover. A sentry was chasing her. She tripped. It raised its gun and aimed right for her heart. And then stopped, a red sword jutting out of its midsection. The sword sliced through the head and the robot collapsed, Keith behind it. He offered a hand, and she launched herself onto him, nearly tackling him with her hug. He'd been smiling nervously, unsure of his reception, but he was really smiling now. He was back, Shiana was safe, the others probably weren't far behind. Everything would be alright.  
Everything was most definitely not alright. Shiana had related what had  
happened since he was gone, and now he was pacing. Everybody except maybe Hunk was captured and the lions were in a Galra ship.  
"Okay, I think the best plan is to get the lions back so we'll have a  
getaway ship ready and then-"  
"Red paladin!" The voice of a Galra commander, one who had been  
chasing them for weeks, cut through the silence of the air around them.  
"Surrender, and your friends will remain unharmed!" Shiana and Keith  
snuck around, hiding behind a boulder, to get a better view. Shiana could see, in plain view, Shiro, Pidge, Lance and, with a stab of horror, Hunk. He had also been taken. Shiana bit back a sob. The black, yellow and green paladins were struggling against their bonds, but Lance wasn't moving. He needed medical attention. Keith started to get up.  
"What are you doing," Shiana hissed, "they're going to see you!"  
"That's the point. I'm responsible for this. Not you, not anybody else. If I  
had stayed, none of this would have hapened. Now I'm going to fix this." He started forward before stopping short. What was wrong? His muscles weren't responding. He didn't know when she had fixed her gloves, but Shiana had shot him with a tranquilizer dart.  
"I'm sorry, Keith," she whispered, as everything went dark.  
"Red paladin! Last call, then one of the others dies! Three! Two! O-"  
"Wait!" Shiro's heart sank as a figure in red armor stood up on a rock.  
Keith had come back, only to be captured with the rest of them. His heart sank even further when Shiana popped up next to him.  
Shiana's eyebrows scrunched in concentration. She had never tricked so  
many people at once. The armor helped because she didn't have to disguise her body, but it was still hard. The other paladins were easy to slip into and change what they saw because she did it very often without their knowledge. But all of them at once, along with the living Galra was taking all of her energy and concentration.  
"I'll trade myself for them. Shiana too. Just let them go." The Galra  
captain sneered.  
"And why would I just give away four people for only two?" Shiana's  
mind raced to think of an answer. She knew this guy loved experimenting on his victims so...  
"Because they're humans. You can find dozens of humans anywhere.  
But how often do you find a Galra human hybrid? Or an Altean mind reader hybrid?" The captain considered for a minute.  
"Alright. The two of you get down here, and then I'll release them."  
"Not so fast. You release one of them and Shiana and I will come a  
quarter of the way to you. And so on and so forth until all of them are released. With their weapons." The commander scratched his head thoughtfully.  
"Hmm. Well, I suppose that'll work. Release the wounded one." A single  
sentry untied Lance and shoved him towards Shiana as she and her illusion of herself walked closer to the commander. On his way, Lance stumbled and fell.  
Keith caught him. Lance thought through the haze of pain that he had  
never been happier to see that red and white armor in his life.  
"Be strong," Keith whispered. Huh. Lance would've expected those  
words coming out of Shiana's mouth, not Keith's, but there was a first time for everything. He stumbled behind the boulder where he found an unconscious... Keith? That was impossible. He had just seen Keith walk by. Whoever it was, Lance was glad to have company, albeit unconscious company. He settled himself down to wait next to the-unconscious-boy-who-looked-like-Keith.  
Come on... Just... Shiro... left. She could make it. She would make it.  
Shiro passed her, and she let her disguise down, just a moment to let him know that Keith was safe, it was just her, just Shiana, it would be no big loss if she was gone. He didn't seem comforted. He made it to the boulder with the others and the captain smiled.  
"Let's have a look at my new specimen, shall we?" He flipped off the  
helmet and gasped.  
"Lies! Treachery!" Shiana had let her guard down, and the projection  
disappeared. She collapsed, completely spent.  
Shiro could see Shiana collapse, and then Hunk was there, firing on the  
Galra, keeping them off of Shiana while Shiro ran, as fast as he could back to the Galra. One of them tried to grab Shiana, but Shiro sliced it with his arm and gently picked up his teammate. Thankfully she just seemed tired, not injured in any way. She snuggled closer into his chest, and he smiled. He had grown very fond of Shiana, and he would be very upset if anything remotely bad happened to her. Shiro hurried back to the others, Hunk covering his retreat. The castle had traced the signal of Keith's ship and landed, all of the paladins running into it. Allura looked grim as Coran took Lance to the sick bay. Keith had woken up from the mild tranquilizer Shiana had used on him, although he still looked a little groggy.  
"Paladins." Allura clasped her hands together. "I know you're tired. But  
one fact still remains." The room was deadly silent. "We cannot let Zarkon maintain his hold on the lions."

**Author's Note:**

> Eh, who am I kidding? I had this planned since day one. Todays latin: scoundrel/dirtbag, idiot, and, literally translated, son of a dog. take that however you want. Also, my love, because I don't know a word for sisterly love.


End file.
